Listinia

The wind suddenly picks up, sending a gust of cold air at us like it knows what we're going through. I hold the necklace carefully in my gloved hand like it's cursed. It may as well be.

"We have to go to the elders," I say after a silence. "This just isn't right."

"Do we take her?" Dal says.

"It'll only slow us down. Fill up the bucket and bring it in, then I'll tell Aquovia we're leaving."

We scramble to fill the gray metal bucket with clean snow. I try to avoid taking snow near the body. As far as I can see, there are no footprints leading to her, but they could have been erased as more snow fell.

We hurry inside. Dal sets the bucket by the fire and we grab our weapons. Aquovia comes from the kitchen and gives us a worried look.

"Where - where are you going?"

"We have to go to the House of Elders," I tell her. "Don't go behind the house. It could be dangerous out there."

"Arden, you know there's nothing-"

"Please, Aquovia. There's a body back there, and something is very wrong about this whole thing."

"Arden? Dallav? What's going on?" she asks.

"There's no time. We have to go. Just promise me you won't go out there."

"I can defend myself, you know," she says, sounding slightly offended. I know she's right - she herself went through training, but she was trained in a different field than I was.

"I just don't want you taking the risk."

"Go," she says. "Quickly. I won't go out there."

"Thank you."

That's it. Dal and I bolt out the door. We run all the way to the House of Elders, not stopping once for a break. I've never been more thankful for that physical training.

When we get there, we head right in. Luckily, Elder Javok comes out at once. "What is it?" he asks.

"The body... it's in the trees. Behind my house." I try to speak and catch my breath at the same time.

Wrinkles line his forehead. He makes a strange gesture with his hands and a bow comes gliding through the air from somewhere upstairs and into his waiting arms. "We must go at once."

"Yes, Elder."

Elder Javok writes a note for the other elders while I take deep breaths, glad that I don't feel like I'm dying anymore. He finishes writing and sticks the note to the wall. "Now, we run."

The feeling of dying comes back again as we run the whole trip back to my house. For his age, Elder Javok can actually run pretty fast. Dal and I have to try to keep up with him, since we haven't fully recovered from our trip to the House. I wonder how much longer I can last in the biting cold while I overwork my body. I have to remind myself again that being out in the field will be worse. It's act or die out there.

"In the back," I manage to say when we reach my house. Elder Javok goes first and we follow close behind.

"Where did you say the body was?" he asks.

"Right over here," Dal says.

The elder goes into the trees, coming back in a few seconds. "There's nothing there."

"What?" I say, walking into the trees ahead of him. The only thing I see is heaps of snow that has fallen from the tree branches. "This can't be..."

"Are you sure you're not just imagining it? Traumatic events cause strange things, boys."

"She was here," I say, staring blankly into the ground. "Check under the snow."

Elder Javok uses his bow to dig around and finds nothing. Just clean, white snow. He shakes his head. "Don't give me another false alarm again."

"But-" Dal says, but the Elder has already run off. There is no point in calling him back, and it would be disrespectful. Dal looks at me with wide eyes. "Arden, that wasn't just our imagination, was it?"

"It wasn't. I know it." I keep looking at the spot where the body had been. It was there. It was fucking there. I wasn't imagining it. But it had mysteriously disappeared once again, and there's nothing I can do about. Maybe I am crazy.

I shove my hands in my pockets in defeat. Then my hand touches something cold. I can feel its freezing temperature even through my gloves. I pull it out. It's the necklace, and it tells me that this is very real.

--------

"We'll be late for training, Arden," Dal says.

"You must not be late," Aquovia says. "You know the elders don't take that lightly."

"Fuck the elders," I say.

"Don't let them hear you say that," she says. "Who knows what they'll do to you then."

"They already think I'm insane, probably," I say bitterly. "What could be worse?"

"A lot of things," she replies, picking up the plates from our meal. "You don't want to have to find out what they are, though, so I suggest you get going."

"Come on, Arden." Dal pulls on my arm and I reluctantly get up. He has to force the bow and arrows into my hands. I'd throw them on the floor in fury, but I don't have the money to buy new ones if they broke. "Let's go, we can't be late."

"No one cares," I say. "Why do we even have to fucking go?"

"You care," he says. "Once you calm down you will."

I hate him so much for being right, and I walk out the door without answering. It's gotten even colder and I left my gloves on the kitchen table, but there is no way in hell I'm going back in to get them.

"Here," Dal says, holding something in front of me. It's my gloves. "You need them."

"No thanks," I say, even though I'm probably going to get frostbite. I won't give in to him.

"I'll hold them for you, then."

I still don't want to talk to him, so I pick up the pace and walk about ten steps in front of him. I go into some trees, where it will be harder for anyone to see me.

"Don't, we're not supposed to go there," he warns.

"Says who?" I say, and he knows there's no point in saying anything to me at this point. I'm glad he's smart enough to know that.

I just keep walking and walking. I don't know if I'm even going the right way anymore. I must be, because Dallav hasn't said anything yet. If he's still following me, that is.

I hear a bird singing at one point, and it's annoying the shit out of me. Why are there even birds in the winter? I see it sitting in a tree and I notice it's nice and fat. So I put an arrow through it and it falls to the ground. My mother will appreciate it. We'll probably eat it tonight or tomorrow.

I go to retrieve my arrow and inspect the bird. Just as I'm bending down, I hear a voice. And it's definitely not Dal's.

"Stop right there or I'll shoot."